Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Louise Fein‘s debut novel Daughter of the Reich is a heart-wrenching story about Hetty Heinrich, the daughter of a high-ranking Nazi officer. She’s ready to be a loyal servant of the Reich until she encounters Walter, a Jewish friend from the past, who stirs dangerous feelings in her. From there, everything she once knew begins to crumble away as she comes face-to-face with the evil of her family and must decide who she will be.
So, what to say about the book: Her prose is tight and spectacular, and as a reader your propelled forward through the book. There aren’t really any slow moments. I found myself skimming ahead during some of the more tense scenes to see how they would play out (I don’t like unhappy surprises) before circling back again to enjoy the actual story 🙂
She also does a fantastic job of developing the main characters and using them as a way to examine the Nazi regime on a much more personal, intimate level. We all know the horrors that took place throughout the country, but seeing those play out in the background as the two main characters try desperately to move through (and escape) a world that is collapsing paints such a vivid collage.
And make sure you stick around until the end of the book so you can learn how Louise’s search for her own family history inspired parts of this story. (Honestly, her family’s history is as compelling as her novel.)
This is an absolute must read!
You can listen to Episode 54 with Louise Fein on The Downtown Writers Jam podcast. (And we delve quite a bit into her own family history!)
